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Nobody is going to be fair to Jose Mourinho as he continues to remind the football pseuds of the media darlings' trophy count.

Gary Lineker, who condemned Mourinho's reaction to Marcus Rashford's miss against Young Boys in November before ignoring Sir Alex Ferguson'sapoplectic outburst after a wayward Cristiano Ronaldo finish, opined on Match of the Day Rashford was thriving under someone who 'finally believed in him'.

It is a lazy narrative. A glance at Rashford's form shows there have been five goals in six under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and he has tallied more under the Norwegian this term than he did under Mourinho. That is telling in that Rashford has thrived from being mentored by a former striker whose mantra was 'there's no such thing as a good save'.

Man-management and playing experience are the areas of expertise where Solskjaer has the edge on Mourinho.

"What I like the most is to get into their heads and find out what they are thinking," Solskjaer said on Saturday. "He is so calm and assured when he is finishing. That was the first thing I said to him when I met him.

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"He had missed some chances and I said 'no problem, you’ll be alright, just settle down a little bit'."

Rashford is now finishing chances he would previously have snatched at, albeit in particularly pressurised moments; 1-1 at Bournemouth, 2-1 up at Juventus and goalless against Young Boys, a group stage game that United's knockout qualification hinged on.

Mourinho had bemoaned United's lack of a 'killer instinct' after Rashford failed to capitalise on Romelu Lukaku's demotion against Everton in October and reacted to Rashford's rushed effort against the Swiss champions by gruffly folding his arms and shaking his head.

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You would think Mourinho had shot Bambi, such was the histrionic outrage over his disappointment at Rashford. Instead, it could be retrospectively remembered as the making of the 21-year-old as his boyhood club's starting striker. Rashford earned that central role he coveted on Mourinho's watch.

Four days after the Young Boys tie, Rashford was the 'mad dog' among the runt of the litter at Southampton, where his determination yielded two goals.

"With all respect to the dogs - because I love them - they are better than many men," Mourinho said, deadpan. "I would say Marcus Rashford was a mad dog until he was very, very tired and with little problems. That appetite, that desire, that fire you have, you need that to recover the ball faster and to recover the ball higher on the pitch."

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Rashford's starting status was recognised with the visit of Arsenal on December 5 when Mourinho dropped Lukaku and placed the 21-year-old at the tip of the arrow, flanked by Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard in an intense front three Solskjaer has enhanced. Rashford created two and scored another in the stroll against Fulham and was the standout performer in Mourinho's penultimate game at Valencia, where he emerged for 33 minutes and scored again.

The keyboard voters were always going to plump for Pogba as United's player of the month for December but the deserved recipient was Rashford, a nominee in the Premier League equivalent. The four December assists and two goals prior to Mourinho's dismissal suggest he had not downed tools.

Solskjaer believes Rashford is playing the best football of his career

Martial, Lingard, David de Gea, Victor Lindelof, Diogo Dalot and Luke Shaw were six others who were performing before Ed Woodward dialled Tampa on that blue December Monday. The majority endured public criticism or tough love and the specific form of Martial and Shaw - Mourinho's favourite whipping boys - deprived their more feckless teammates of any excuses.

Rashford's development over the last month is especially striking, for even Sir Alex Ferguson failed to produce a first-team striker that truly made it in his 26-and-a-half pioneering years at the club. That Rashford has excelled under the idiosyncratic Louis van Gaal, the demanding Mourinho and amiable Solskjaer is testament to his mentality and ability.

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Solskjaer believes Rashford's form is comparable with Harry Kane's before he succumbed to injury and it was the Norwegian who referred to the Ronaldo and Rooney stat. "I was told that he is younger than Ronaldo and Rooney to reach 150 appearances for Manchester United," Solskjaer remarked. "He can be absolutely top class."

"No one beats him on work-rate, no one beats him on attitude," Solskjaer beamed. He revealed Lukaku is beating Rashford in training goals but the 'Wonder kid' is scoring when it matters.